Scott Wykoff's Blog

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Twilight Delight

A little bit of twilight delight is on the menu for racing
fans around these parts this summer.

It’s what the Maryland Jockey Club is serving-up this month.For the first time in 5 years the ponies are running in July
at Laurel Park.

And that means folks won’t have to leave the state during
the month of July to experience live racing.This will mark the first time Maryland has raced in July
since 2010 due to terms of an agreement between the Maryland Jockey Club and
Colonial Downs.

But with the track to the south of here between Richmond and
Williamsburg closed for the second straight summer because of a dispute between
the track’s owners and horsemen, a window of opportunity has opened to
open-the-doors this month at the “track by the tracks” in Laurel.

July racing will take on a bit of a new twist at the track
that typically just hosts Maryland’s fall and winter meets. Friday’s in July will feature twilight racing
with 3:40 pm post times.

Also, the July meet in Anne Arundel County will feature
plenty of racing on what has become known as one of the best turf courses in
the nation.

And Laurel’s 142-foot-wide
turf course has never looked better!

“We are looking forward to our July weekend schedule and I
know the horsemen are as well,” said Maryland Jockey Club President and General
Manager Sal Sinatra. “We have a lot of exciting things going on. We’ll have
twilight racing on Friday with food specials, a Super Hi 5 with a 15 percent
take out, and we’ll continue the 10-cent Rainbow 6 and the Pick 5 with the
industry-low 12 percent takeout. We also think our field sizes will be strong.”

And Sal says this July meet is very focused on being very fan
friendly.“I want to race when people have off or get off work early,
and I think the twilight programs on Friday give us a chance to grow our
business with free parking, admission and specials.”To that end, Laurel Park got a real shot-in-the arm over the
last few months with $7 million in improvements with new flat-screen
televisions and projection systems, new barns (below), carpeting and concession stands.

That's a real good look at one of the new barns along the backstretch at Laurel Park.

There will also be a new “voice” describing all the action
on-the-track at Laurel Park this month. Pete Medhurst, the familiar voice of Navy football on WBAL
Radio, will be perched high atop the grandstand calling the races during the
month of July.

A lifelong Marylander (above. right, interviewing WBAL's Keith Mills) who has excelled over the years as the
track announcer for the trotters at Rosecroft Raceway and Ocean Downs, Medhurst
will be behind the mic and field glasses at Laurel Park all this month as
veteran Maryland Jockey Club track announcer extraordinaire Dave Rodman is out
west handling race calling duties for the prestigious California summer fair
circuit races at Oak Tree at Pleasanton and Sacramento.
You know where this blogger will be spending plenty a Friday evenings this July!